MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE And SLAYER's KERRY KING Discuss The 'Big Four' Tour

Chris Krovatin of Revolver magazine tracked down SLAYER guitarist Kerry King in Austria and MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine in Warsaw, Poland to discuss the two bands' participation in the so-called "Big Four" European dates — a series of Sonisphere festival appearances featuring METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX, the four originators of 1980s thrash. A couple of excerpts from the discussion follow below.

Revolver: How did the "Big Four" tour come about?

King: It was something that was trying to be made happen, so it just took everyone signing off on it. I gotta tell you, man, I can't believe, in the 27 years since we put our first record out, that no one's tried to make this happen. Because now that it is happening, it's so cool, it's so important, that every territory in the world wants it. I don't know what took so long.

Mustaine: We had some opportunities to do these festivals, and we had been doing the Carnage dates [with SLAYER], which were of course so popular in the States and Canada. For me, personally, I didn't see it coming… Having dinner with Lars [Ulrich] the other night, he told me that he had talked to SLAYER's tour manager a year and a half ago about whether or not this was gonna happen, and I thought, God, I'm so glad I didn't know about this a year and a half ago, because I would've had to spend every day with that "I've got a big gig coming" brain.

Revolver: For a long time, it seemed like there was bad blood between you guys, specifically between SLAYER and MEGADETH, and MEGADETH and METALLICA. What squashed that beef?

King: Before we did the Australian and Japanese run with MEGADETH, I was reading the Revolver SLAYER issue, and reading this interview we did with Dave. And I just couldn't remember why I wasn't friends with this dude anymore — I could not remember what I was upset about. So we get to the airport, and I saw him coming out of the lounge, and I came up, shook his hand, and said, "Hey, dude, I don't think I've talked to you in about 15 years!" We have a shitload of dates coming up, and honestly, when I've talked to him, I remember the guy I dug 25 years ago.

Mustaine: We've just learned how to step back see what we stand for in the world, the "Big Four," and how each band has contributed to that in its own way. I had a huge turnaround on my whole outlook at life walking into this tour, these dates, with just a brand new relationship. The first person I talked to was [METALLICA guitarist] Kirk [Hammett]. We talked for a while, and then at dinner, I sat next to James [Hetfield] and Lars, and it was cool to look at it — just how much we changed the world… Twenty years ago, this tour probably wouldn't have happened — we were all young, and we weren't dealing with the fame too well.

Revolver: What do SLAYER represent in the "Big Four?"

King: We represent all that is evil in the "Big Four," and historically, I think we've represented thrash the best, but it's funny, just how these four bands from this same movement went off to become different entities.

Revolver: What about MEGADETH?

Mustaine: Our lyrics are a little deeper than some of the others, but we're each different in that way — SLAYER's lyrics are really different from ANTHRAX's. We're really just like a four-paned window, you know — four different vantage points, all getting across that same message.

Revolver: Since METALLICA is headlining these shows, Kerry, should they be worried about getting blown off the stage by one of you?

King: The one thing I'm not happy about — and we didn't know this until we got here — is that it's not always the "Big Four" in a row. Some days, there are bands in between us, and that's kind of a bummer. A night ending with ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, and SLAYER would be brutal. I have nothing against those other bands, but I didn't know about that. But yeah, we open for METALLICA some nights. I've seen METALLICA twice on this tour, and they may not have all the spiel and bells and whistles they had in the States, but they've been killing it. They're pros, man, they'll have no problem. That said, man, our set's brutal, and it ain't there to make friends.

Read the entire interview from Revolver magazine.

June 15, 2010 (dinner in Warsaw):

June 16, 2010 (pre-show photo call in Warsaw):